Planet Prince

Planet Prince (遊星王子, Yūsei Ōji) is a 1958 Japanese tokusatsu superhero television series created by Masaru Igami and produced by Senkosha, the series aired on NTV from November 4, 1958 to October 6, 1959, with a total of 49 episodes (comprising four separate adventures). It was created to capitalize on the success of Shintoho's Super Giant (Starman) movie series. In fact, the title hero (whose alter-ego was Waku-san, played by Toshio Mimura) bore a strong resemblance to Super Giant (known as "Starman" in the U.S.). The pair of Planet Prince theatrical featurettes, adapted from the Senkosha TV series, were produced by Toei Studios and filmed in black and white ToeiScope format.[1]

For the Japanese anime series, see Prince Planet.
Planet Prince
Theatrical release poster
Japanese name
Kanji遊星王子
Transcriptions
Revised HepburnYūsei Ōji
Directed byEijirō Wakabayashi
Screenplay byShin Morita
Story byMasaru Igami
Produced byWalter Manley, Toei Company
StarringTatsuo Umemiya
Joji Oda
Hiroko Mine[1]
CinematographyMasahiko Iimura
Music byKatsuhisa Hattori
Distributed byToei Company
Release date
  • May 19, 1959 (1959-05-19)
Running time
57 minutes (Part I)
64 minutes (Part II)
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Toei produced two theatrical movies in 1959 that featured the Planet Prince character, but wearing a completely different, more streamlined costume (and goggled helmet) than the one worn in the tv series. The hero in these two movies was played by Tatsuo Umemiya. The movies were released a week apart. The films were titled:

  • Planet Prince (遊星王子, Yūsei Ōji) Released: May 19, 1959
  • Planet Prince - The Terrifying Spaceship (遊星王子 - 恐怖の宇宙船, Yūsei Ōji - Kyōfu no Uchūsen) Released: May 25, 1959

For TV release in America, these two Planet Prince movies were compiled into an 85-minute, English-dubbed movie entitled Prince of Space that was first shown in 1965.[1]

Production

The TV version looks very similar to Super Giant (Starman), in that both wear cowled costumes and capes. Each character also has superpowers and flies. The two-part movie version (produced by Toei) is very different, as Prince of Space wears a more streamlined costume, cape, and helmet with goggles. In the edited US version, he has no superpowers other than the invulnerability of his costume and - in a subplot unique to the Japanese version - the ability to revert a man who was brainwashed by the Ginsei aliens back to a peaceful state. In the films, he uses a wand-like laser gun and flies a small spaceship.

In the TV version, just like Moonlight Mask, the Planet Prince persona was listed in the credits as being played by "?" (even though the character never wore a mask to conceal his face).

In the film, Prince's enemy is called Ambassador Phantom of the Silver Planet (銀星のまぼろし大使) (this villain also appeared in one of the tv series' story arcs), while in the English-language version, the villain is called Dictator Phantom of the Planet Krangkor. He (along with his henchmen) wears a large prosthetic nose and cowl that give him a decidedly chicken-like appearance, something that was constantly mocked when the film was featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000. Dictator Phantom and his henchmen also don't appear to wear undergarments, as is made painfully obvious in several shots.

Cast

(Americanized names in parentheses)

  • Planet Prince/Waku-san (Prince of Space/Wally) - Tatsuo Umemiya
  • Ambassador Phantom (Ambassador Dictator Phantom) - Joji Oka
  • Sachiko (Susie) - Hiroko Mine
  • Dr. Maki (Dr. Macken) - Ushio Akashi
  • Ichiro (Johnny) - Akira Asami
  • Makoto (Mickey) - Koji Komori
  • Kimiko (Kimmy) - Midori Tsuzuki
  • Inspector Takeda - Takashi Kanda
  • Sawamoto (Dr. Sangamon) - Akira Tatematsu
  • Shibasaki - Masahiko Naruse
  • Mukai - Ken Sudo
  • Newsreporter Tabei (Mr. Tannen) - Ken Hasebe
  • Newsreporter Tono (Jerry the Reporter) - Giichi Sugi
  • Sakai - Koji Sahara
  • Tsunoda - Tokio Kozuka
  • Keichi Kawajima (Inspector) - Rin'ichi Yamamoto
  • Dr. Naito - Hiroshi Katayama
  • Newspaper reporter - Yuji Kitamine
  • Phantom's henchmen - Riki Iwaki, Kenji Todoroki, Hiroshi Mihara, Nobuo Yana
  • Dr. Tateishi (Dr. Fletcher) - Shusuke Sone
  • Mrs. Tateishi - Kaoru Nakano
  • Commander Koda - Akikane Sawa
  • Secretary of Defense Fukuhara - Shiko Saito
  • Captain Munakata - Tadashi Minamikawa
  • Colonel Matsuda - Junkichi Orimoto
  • Colonel Watanabe - Junji Masuda
  • The Guardian - Rinichi Yamamoto
  • Kidnapped American scientist (Dr. Cohen) - Osman Yusuf (uncredited)

Production credits
  • Planning - Sanehiko Okada
  • Director - Eijiro Wakabayashi
  • Producer - Sanehiko Sonoda
  • Screenplay - Shin Morita
  • Original Story - Masaru Igami
  • Music - Hirooki Ogawa (stock music; uncredited), Katsuhisa Hattori
  • Director of Photography - Masahiko Iimura
  • Lighting - Kenzo Ginya
  • Art Director - Shuichiro Nakamura
  • Recording - Shozo Hirokami
  • Film Editor - Yoshiki Nagasawa
  • Director of Special Effects - Shozo Horai
  • Assistant Director - Hajime Sato
  • Production Assistant - Takeshi Nishii

Theme Song – "Planet Prince Song"

  • Vocals - Kamitakada Junior Chorus
  • Lyrics - Masaru Igami
  • Composer - Katsuhisa Hattori

Reboot

In 2021 Minoru Kawasaki directed a feature film reboot of the series, Planet Prince 2021.

References
  1. Galbraith,Stuart (1994). Japanese Fantasy, Science Fiction and Horror Films. McFarland and Co., Inc.

Mystery Science Theater 3000
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